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To all wh'ont'it may concemf Be it known that I, Arman Smear of Wilmington, Del, Castle, and in the State of Delaa certain new and use Processes of Producing and I do hereby deof New ware, have invented ful Improvement in Propellent Explosives;

clare that the following is a full, clear,- and exact description thereof.

My invention relates processes of producing propell'ent powders.

My invention relates particularly to a process of producing smokeless powders so as to provide a surface treatment -to produce what is that is to say, powders adapted to produce a lower initial pressure without lowering the velocity of the rojectile. My invention is applicable to 't e production oi various kinds of rifle and cannon powders; The object of my invention is to provice a process which many of the disadvantages of previous powders of thi's'type ma be avoided. More particularly the'obj ect o is to provide a process of producing a powder of this character by a plying v of powder grains, as or example the grains of nitrocellulose owder a deterrent material, which is a so vent of the explosive contained in the powder grains, so that it may be caused to penetrate thepowder grains,

and which is substantlally non-volatile and I which further provides on the surface of the grains an explosive of sufficient potential to obtain satisfactory ignition.

A further object of my provide a process of this character b plying a material to the surface" 0 the powder grains which has substantially no odor and which is so slightly volatile. that the powder produced in connection with my invention may be stored at the temperature to which powders are ordinarily su jected without producing any substantial ballistic change.

Previously, terials to powder ary either to suitable solvent and spray the solution onto the powder while the latter is stirred, after which the solvent is evaporated or the coating material has been applied in the form invention is A to in order to apply coatinginaof a dry powder by the use of a glazing or in the county to improvements in v found, however,-

c'oatahg purposes,

known as progressive powders,

for the treatment of powderby my invention to the surface grains it has been custom dissolve the material 1n a rnncrss or meme rnornttenr nxrtoszvss. I

Specification of mar; 2mm. s P te t Au 5, 1919, I Application tied August 17, 1916. ass 115 451;

\tumbling barrel followed by heat treatment. When smokeless powder is surface coated wi h various ma erials in the above de-' scribed manner, there results little, improvement i'n 'th'e progressive burnin of the powder, and there is produced considerable .0

tendency to hang fire, particularly if the materials used for coating are deterrent materials of a low explosive or non-explosive order; and difiicult of ignition. It has been that many substances for which would be highly deslrable because of their stability, low volatillty, absence of odor, and lack of injuri-- one action on the powder are unsuitable because of their high melting point. A furtherobject of my invention is there-- rm, to make use of such substances in coatmg powder in such a way as to lower their melting point, thus avoiding the objections to their use diie'to their high melting point, While my invention is capable of beii'i'gfl carried on in many difl'erent ways,- for the purpose of illustration; 1 shall des'cri one form of my invention hereinafter: For exam is, a quantity of nitrooellulosew powder in t e form of grains is introduced into a revolving barrel, provided with means forheatin'g the same. A mixture of. anitro hydrocarbon, such as dinitroto'ltiene with cainphor addedther'eto, amin also; added thereto, isintredueed into the, barrel; The dinitrotoluene maybe anyof the several isomersor it" may be a mixture of isomersformed by the direct nitratioii of toluene; but pure dinit-rotoluene, which is usually described as the 1 2, 4 isomer (0.- p. dinitrotolu ene). The mixture of dinitifotoluene, camphor and diphenylamin may be in the ro: portions of 84 parts of dinitrotoluen'e, 1e parts of cani'pho'r' and 4 parts of diph'e'nyL' amin, the melting point of the mixturebeingi'n the 'eig'hborhood of 65 C. w'herei as the 1; 2-, 4 isomer of (llfllthOwilinB' melts at about 7013f; C. This mixture when warmed is partially liquefied andiis mixe'd with the powder grains in the rotating barrel for about half an hour to insure a uniform coating. The powdermay be allowed to stand over-night to allow the mixture which is a partial solvent to penetrate the grains. The temperature of the barrel is then gradually raised to 65 C. and the baror with dipheny1-- 85 I I prefer to use merely 90 graphite suitable f0r glazing smokeless powder is adde'dJjand' -the mixing-is-com tinued'ujntil the -powde'r becon'ies' dry,v which takes about twenty minutes additional amount of graphite is' their added and the glazing of the powderis completed. The graphite not only serves to. glaze thepowder, I

but also serves to separate the powder grains and permit the individual grams to become effectively impregnated'with the dinitrotoluene mixture. The powder grains so treated no longer adhere to one another, the 1ndividual grains have beenefl'ectively imvpregnated with the dinitrotoluene.

finished powder is capable of producing an increased velocity with the same or a lower pressure than in the case of the original powder before being SUbJGOtGd to the above treatment.

While I have described my invention above in detail, I wish it to be understood that many changes may 'be made there n, without departing from the spirit of my 1nvention..

1. The processwhich comprisesapplylng to nitrocellulose powder grains a nitro-hy'drocarbon having asolvent action on the nitrocellulose grains, said nitro-hydrocarbon containing an aromatic compound WlllCh lowers the melting point thereof, and heating-the materials to a temperature materially below the melting point of the nitro-hydrocarbon used. v

2. The process which comprises applying to nitrocellulose powder grains anitro-hydrocarbon having-a solvent action onthe nitrocellulose grains, said nitro-hydrocarbon containing an aromatic comrpounld which lowers the melting point of the nitro-hydrocarbon, and heatin the materials to atemperature of approximately 65 C.

3. The process which comprises applying to nitrocellulose powder grains a nitro-hydrocarbon havin a solvent action on the nitrocellulose grains, said nitro-hydrocarbon containin camphor which lowers its melting point, an then heatin the mixture.

4. The process whic comprises mixing nitrocellulose powder grains with a nitrohydrocarbon having a solvent. action on the nitrocellulose grains, said nitro-hydrocarbon containing camphor and diphenylamin which lowers its melting point,-and heating the mixture during the mixing operation.

, .5. The process which comprises applying to nitrocellulose powder grains 3. mixture at least partially liquefied of dinitrotoluene --to nitrocellulose powder grains a mlxture at least partially i quefied of dinitrotoluene and a stabilizer for nitrocellulose.

10. The process which comprises apply-- ing to nitrocellulose powder grains a Hill!- ture at least partially liquefied of dinitrotoluene, camphor and a stabilizer for nitrocellulose.

11. The process whichcomprises applyin I z to nitrocellulose'powder.grains'a mixture 0 84 parts dinitrotoluene, 16parts camphor and 4 parts diphenylamin to impregnate the surface of the grains with dinitrotoluene.

12. The processjwhioh comprises mixing nitrocellulose powder grainswith a mixture of dinitrotoluene, camphor and diphenyl- "amin, warming the mixture to partially liquefy the dinitrotoluene and continuing the mixing until the powder grains are coated with the partially liquefied dinitrotoluene, gradually increasing'the temperature of the mixture to approximately 65 centigrade, to completely liquefy .the dinitrotoluene and continuing the mixing for a: substantial period to promoteva reaction between the dinitrotoluene' and the nitrocellulose grains, and drying'and glazing the grains. v

. Intestimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my-hand.

SAMUEL ONEIL;

I Witnesses: I i

EDWIN F. STIMPSON, VICTOR E. COMEGYB. 

